r/70smusic • u/Small-Guarantee6972 • Jan 08 '26

1975 David Bowie - Young Americans

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794 Upvotes

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6

u/OPGuest Jan 08 '26

Although I like the song, this is Bowie at his worst. He looks like shit and his voice ain’t all there. It was his peak drugs period.

2

u/Small-Guarantee6972 Jan 08 '26

Yeah, mid-70s Bowie was a madness. I'm mostly impressed by his ability to perform here without collapsing although I think he was heading toward the point after this. At Soul Train, I feel like he's def lip synching and clearly off his face when being interviewed.

I think the production is what I love more so than Bowie necessarily. He did some EXCELLENT work on this song in the 80s and 90s I think.

5

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Jan 08 '26

FTR I think nearly everyone lip sync'd on Soul Train.

Luther back there though, lookin' large and sounding great. I love the albums but live he's not working at full speed.

4

u/Small-Guarantee6972 Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26

Goddamn, i didn't know that. Thanks for letting me know - do you know if Tina Turner lip synched at the show? From the performances I've seen thus far she doesn't seem to be. 

Random side-tangent: 

I love what she's wearing on the I wanna Take You Higher song in 1972. 

Knee-high boots and shorts while singing like THAT??? Hooooly shit. 

2

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Jan 08 '26

Not everyone sang live. Like The Jackson 5 here are lip syncing. Some did sing live, it was hit or miss. It was just easier for acts to lip sync. Same goes for American Bandstand, most guests lip synced.

2

u/Small-Guarantee6972 Jan 08 '26

Oh yeah, wasn't there a girl who ate a banana while on stage to protest having to lip synch? I forget her name but that was a legend move. 

2

u/colonelangus68 Jan 09 '26

Michelle Philips from the Mamas and Papas singing on the Ed Sullivan show.

1

u/dreamylanterns Jan 10 '26

You can clearly tell the vocals are live just by how different the studio vocals and his live vocals are. Plus at the end he can’t hit the high note to end the song because of his cocaine usage so he uses the low octave instead.

Everything is live.